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Saul Zaentz

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Producer

The Resume

    (February 28, 1921-January 3, 2014)
    Born in Passaic, New Jersey
    Owned Fantasy Records (1967-2005)
    Owned the Saul Zaentz Film Center (1980-2007)
    Owner of Tolkein Enterprises which controls film rights to 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit'
    Produced the films 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (1975), 'Three Warriors' (1978), 'The Lord of the Rings' (1978), 'Amadeus' (1984), 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' (1988), 'At Play in the Fields of the Lord' (1991), 'The English Patient' (1996) and 'Goya's Ghosts' (2006)

Why he might be annoying:

    In his 20s, he made his living as a full-time gambler.
    He feuded repeatedly with John Fogerty over Fantasy Record's ownership of the publishing rights for Creedence Clearwater Revival songs.
    Fogerty wrote 'Vanz Can't Dance' and 'Mr. Greed' about him.
    He unsuccessfully sued Fogerty for plagiarism, claiming Fogerty's solo song 'The Old Man Down the Road' was lifted from Fogerty's CCR-era song 'Run Through the Jungle.'
    He was in a long-running dispute with New Line Films over profits from the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, which has been one of the factors delaying the production of a 'Hobbit' film.

Why he might not be annoying:

    At Fantasy, he kept thousands of important jazz titles in print despite modest sales.
    The New York Times called him 'perhaps the last of the great independent producers.'
    Three of the films he produced won the Oscar for Best Picture.
    He said that after his first Oscar win, 'We had the great distinction of being known as those assholes out of Berkeley. Then, after Amadeus, it was those lucky assholes out of Berkeley.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 5 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 7 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 22 Votes: 72.73% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 16 Votes: 68.75% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 20 Votes: 70.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 260 Votes: 65.00% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 188 Votes: 52.13% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 29 Votes: 62.07% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 21 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 14 Votes: 64.29% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 21 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 18 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 42 Votes: 61.90% Annoying